Are there ethical differences between stopping and not starting blood safety measures?

Vox Sanguinis

Volumn 112, Issue 5, 2017, Pages 417-424

  Kramer, K ^a,b   Verweij, M F ^b   Zaaijer, H L ^a  

^a CENTRAL LABORATORY   (Netherlands)

^b WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

cost effectiveness; donor blood safety; ethics; transfusion transmissible infections; withdrawing vs. withholding

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; BIOETHICS; BLOOD BANK; BLOOD SAFETY; BLOOD TRANSFUSION; HUMAN; LIFE SUSTAINING TREATMENT; PATIENT HARM; PATIENT SAFETY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; ECONOMICS; ETHICS; PRIMARY PREVENTION; PROCEDURES;

BLOOD SAFETY; BLOOD TRANSFUSION; HUMANS; PRIMARY PREVENTION;

EID: 85018978268     PISSN: 00429007     EISSN: 14230410     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/vox.12525     Document Type: Article

References (34)

1. Borkent-Raven BA, Janssen MP, van der Poel CL, et al.: Cost-effectiveness of additional blood screening tests in the Netherlands. Transfusion 2012; 52:478–88
2. Jackson BR, Busch MP, Stramer SL, et al.: The cost-effectiveness of NAT for HIV, HCV, and HBV in whole-blood donations. Transfusion 2003; 43:721–9
3. Van Hulst M, De Wolf JT, Staginnus U, et al.: Pharmaco-economics of blood transfusion safety: review of the available evidence. Vox Sang 2002; 83:146–55
4. Custer B, Hoch JS: Cost-effectiveness analysis: what it really means for transfusion medicine decision making. Transfus Med Rev 2009; 23:1–12
5. Custer B, Janssen MP: Health economics and outcomes methods in risk-based decision-making for blood safety. Transfusion 2015; 55:2039–47
6. Kramer K, Zaaijer HL, Verweij MF: The precautionary principle and the tolerability of blood transfusion risks. Am J Bioeth 2017; 17:32-43
7. Alliance of Blood Operators (ABO): Risk-based decision-making framework for blood safety [document on the internet] from: https://allianceofbloodoperators.org/media/115522/rbdmframework-2-April-2015-v11-for-website.pdf
8. Menitove JE, Leach BJ, Tomasulo P, et al.: How safe is safe enough, who decides and how? From a zero-risk paradigm to risk-based decision making Transfusion 2014; 54:753–7
9. Schmidt PJ: Syphilis, a disease of direct transfusion. Transfusion 2001; 41:1069–71
10. Katz LM: A test that won't die: the serologic test for syphilis. Transfusion 2009; 49:617–9
11. Wilson K, Atkinson K, Keelan J: The use of preliminary scientific evidence in public health: a case study of XMRV. PLoS Med 2014; 11:e1001623
12. Vamvakas EC: Relative risk of reducing the lifetime blood donation deferral for men who have had sex with men versus currently tolerated transfusion risks. Transfus Med Rev 2011; 25:47–60
13. Leiss W, Tyshenko M, Krewski D: Men having sex with men donor deferral risk assessment: an analysis using risk management principles. Transfus Med Rev 2008; 22:35–57
14. Farrell A-M: The Politics of Blood: Ethics, Innovation and the Regulation of Risk (eBook). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012
15. De Kort W, Mayr W, Jungbauer C, et al.: Blood donor selection in European Union directives: room for improvement. Blood Transfus 2016; 14:101–8
16. Kahneman D, Tversky A: Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica 1979; 47:263–91
17. Verweij MF, Kramer K: Donor blood screening and moral responsibility: how safe should blood be? J Med Ethics 2016. doi:10.1136/medethics-2015-103338
18. Nozick R: Anarchy, State and Utopia. Oxford, Blackwell, 1977
19. Beauchamp TL, Childress JF: Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 6th edn. New York, Oxford University Press, 2009
20. Miller FG, Truog RD, Brock DW: Moral fictions and medical ethics. Bioethics 2010; 24:453–60
21. Savulescu J: Abortion, infanticide and allowing babies to die, 40 years on. J Med Ethics 2013; 39:257–9
22. McMahan J: Killing, letting die, and withdrawing aid. Ethics 1993; 103:250–79
23. McGee A: Acting to let someone die. Bioethics 2015; 29:74–81
24. Foot P: Virtues and Vices and Other Essays in Moral Philosophy, 2nd edn. Oxford, Clarendon, 2002
25. Sulmasy DP, Sugarman J: Are withholding and withdrawing therapy always morally equivalent? J Med Ethics 1994; 20:218–22
26. Harris J: Are withholding and withdrawing therapy always morally equivalent? A reply to Sulmasy and Sugarman. J Med Ethics 1994; 20:223–4
27. Gillon R: Withholding and withdrawing life-prolonging treatment – moral implications of a thought experiment. J Med Ethics 1994; 20(203–204):222
28. Sayers MH: Allocation of scarce transfusion resources; in: AuBuchon JP, Petz LD, Fink A (eds): Policy Alternatives in Transfusion Medicine. Bethesda, MD, AABB Press, 2001
29. Vincent J-L: Withdrawing may be preferable to withholding. Crit Care 2005; 9:226–9
30. Verweij MF: Equitable access to therapeutic and prophylactic measures. In World Health Organization (WHO): Addressing ethical issues in pandemic influenza planning [document on the internet] from: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/69902/1/WHO_IER_ETH_2008.1_eng.pdf
31. Wilkinson D, Savulescu J: A costly separation between withdrawing and withholding treatment in intensive care. Bioethics 2014; 28:127–37
32. Leveton LB, Sox HC Jr, Stoto MA (eds): HIV and the Blood Supply: An Analysis of Crisis Decisionmaking. Washington, DC, Institute of Medicine National Academy Press, 1995
33. Krever H: The Royal Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada. Final Report: Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada. Ottawa, Canadian Government Publishing, 1997
34. Ross WD: The Right and the Good. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002